>But what about the small capacitor(s)?  Anyone have links to a doc
>that explains this?

In my day the popular device was the LM309.  It came in a TO-3
package and the datasheet said "connect no more than 0.1 uF
to the output".

Seems that in the rush to charge up the output capacitor
it would go overcurrent ( > 1A ) and shut down.   After
it shut down there was no current, so it would start
again.  You know what happens next.

I checked Fairchild's data and couldn't find this for the
7805.  But there in the example is the .1 cap.  So
the implication's the same.   Except I couldn't find
a mention of the overcurrent thing.

But the moral is: You can put small caps on the output
to try to get rid of high frequency noise, but let the
regulator do its job on the slower stuff.

Barry

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